Wells Fargo, together with JP Morgan, has revealed that US authorities are investigating the handling of complaints about the P2P payment service Zelle.
In an SEC filing, Wells says, “Government agencies have conducted formal or informal inquiries or investigations to address customer disputes related to fund transfers over the Zelle network.”
JP Morgan made a similar statement in a filing with the SEC in February. None of the banks were accused of wrongdoing.
Zelle is operated by Early Warning Services, which is owned by seven of the largest banks in the United States. Launched in 2017, it has proven to be a huge success, facilitating $629 billion in transactions in 2022, twice as many as its nearest competitor Venmo.
But it has also “opened the door to fraud and scams on an enormous scale,” according to a letter Senate Democrats sent last year to the Federal Reserve Board, the FDIC, the National Credit Union Administration and the OCC.
The senators, who include Elizabeth Warren, called on regulators to “closely review and examine the customer refund and anti-money laundering (AML) practices of custodian banks participating in the Zelle network.”
